Josh Gibson

Research Interests

My research is focused on the genetic architecture that reinforces speciation. There are two principal mechanisms that lead to the formation and maintenance of new species, those that act before and after mating (pre- and post-zygotic mechanisms, respectively). I investigate both of these mechanisms using parasitoid wasps in the genus Nasonia (Pteromalidae). The four species of Nasonia can be crossed with one another (once their Wolbachia endosymbionts have been cleared) to produce fertile and partially viable interspecific hybrids. These hybrids provide a powerful system to identify hybrid incompatibilities (postyzygotic) as well species differences that serve to keep them separated in the wild (prezygotic). By utilizing the haplo-diploid genetics of the Nasonia system as well as the large set of genomic tools available, we have identified genes that underlie hybrid mortality in interspecific larvae as well as genes that are essential to the production of species-specific sex pheromones.